


Just As It Was

by spookyvulcan



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Asexual Character, Enemies to Lovers, Get Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, Overthinking Zolf Smith, Pining, Slow Burn, Smug Oscar Wilde, i ignore pathfinder and all its rules, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25863541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyvulcan/pseuds/spookyvulcan
Summary: This is not happening.That was currently Zolf’s internal monologue. Because there was no actual way this was happening. Sure, Zolf wouldn’t say he has had a lot of luck throughout his life, but this was a little bit too much.There was a rather skinny and tall man draped over one of the chairs in the living room of Hamid's place. One of his hands holding a drink while the other carefully held a notepad. Zolf could now tell that he was wearing a bright coloured suit with bright shoes, and even brighter socks to top it off. The dwarf immediately decided to cast Spark on the notepad and set it on fire, because there was no way this man was supposed to be his soulmate.
Relationships: Zolf Smith/Oscar Wilde
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

_This is not happening._

That was currently Zolf’s internal monologue. Because there was no actual way this was happening. Sure, Zolf wouldn’t say he has had a lot of luck throughout his life, but this was a little bit too much.

“So sorry, I uh, got here a bit early, I thought I’d just, you know, wait it out.” A rather posh sounding voice echoed through Hamid’s apartment. There was a rather skinny and tall man draped over one of the chairs in the living room. One of his hands holding a drink while the other carefully held a notepad.

Zolf could now tell that he was wearing a bright coloured suit with bright shoes, and even brighter socks to top it off. The dwarf immediately decided to cast Spark on the notepad and set it on fire. Because there was no way this man was supposed to be his soulmate.

“Um, who might you be?” Zolf heard Hamid ask when his brain had finally stopped processing – well, when it had finished _trying_ to process – whatever this was, and this meant.

“Wilde! Good to meet you” The human replied with a small smirk tugging at the end of his lips. It certainly looked like a rather practiced expression on his face. The cleric felt surge of anger? In his chest at the sight of the man. There wasn’t a rational explanation for it really, except that he had already managed to get on his nerves way too many times for an exchange that hadn’t yet lasted more than 30 seconds.

“Is there a compelling reason why, um, I shouldn’t shove this trident up your bum?” Zolf heard himself say.

“Ooh, that’s not very… you wouldn’t want that getting out, would you now, honestly?” The man who had called himself Wilde replied without missing a single beat.

 _He must know_. Zolf wondered. He must _know_. He must have also started seeing in colours. Although, to be fair, he had seen three people at once. How was this man just acting as if nothing had changed?

People spoke of suddenly seeing the world in colour as something that was life changing and here was this man, going on flirting with Bertie, out of all the people present. As well as talking about how he was interested in Zolf’s mercenary group and what they had got up to.

“Well, you haven’t been formally introduced, which I think is probably part of the reason” Bertie added. God, Zolf wanted to punch him so bad. That already rounded up the count to at least two people he wanted to hit in a single room.

“Also, you’d be dead, so it wouldn’t be going anywhere” Zolf finally replied, raising an eyebrow. The dwarf didn’t hesitate on holding Wilde’s gaze with a scowl drawn on his face. Just because this arrogant, smug man was supposed to be his soulmate, it didn’t mean he had to like it.

“Um, you appear to be in my apartment, uninvited.” Hamid pointed out. That was another thing to analyse, the man had broken into Hamid’s apartment. _Fuck this entire situation_ , kept repeating Zolf’s mind. His life really couldn’t get worse, it seemed.

“I do apologize. I was just hoping to get hold of you, and… well I thought this was the best place. I mean, you have been staying here most nights, haven’t you?” Wilde asked as he slowly rose from the seat he had been in the chair. His hands brushing down his suit as he did so, revealing his full height which really was certainly shorter than Bertie.

“Yes” Hamid said. Zolf did have to hand it to Hamid that he, at least, seemed to be calling out this man on what he had done. Unlike Bertie who was staring at him as if he was a candy being dangled in front of him. Zolf somehow got the idea that, that was exactly where Wilde wanted to have Bertie.

“Well. Let me rephrase not all of you” That line made Zolf focus once again on the conversation and he didn’t hesitate on answering back to that comment.

“No, I always look like this.” The dwarf snapped. It did seem like Wilde did know all of them given that he noticed Sasha’s absence. Zolf hadn’t known Sasha for long, but he knew she was watching and listening to this conversation from somewhere. He just hoped that she hadn’t noticed anything weird about the way he was behaving. He knew Bertie certainly hadn’t noticed and he was praying that neither had Hamid.

As soon as one of the drinks that Wilde had spread reached hi grasp, Zolf didn’t hesitate on downing it like his life depended on it. He might have even said that his life did depend on that drink, because nothing about this made sense.

Something that was certainly getting more on his nerves than anything was that Wilde seemed more amused about the whole situation than anything else. Even now, that he had Sasha’s dagger pressed against his throat, the man had a wide smile plastered all over his face. Just _how_.

When Zolf returned his attention to the conversation, he instantly wished he hadn’t. Hearing Bertie flirt with this man was becoming unbearable. The dwarf then decided to take Hamid apart for a second. The business side of his brain had just reminded him that they were talking about information that should _definitely_ remain secret in front of a stranger.

“Shut up. Hamid, a word please.” Zolf finally said, not hesitating on cutting Wilde. The dwarf had also decided to keep out of his mind anything that left Bertie’s mouth. He wished he could do like Sasha and just retreat from the situation. He was still trying to come to terms with how _everything_ looked different now.

Hamid’s three-piece suit was a combination of two colours that seemed to surprisingly match. He couldn’t put a name to those colours yet. How was he supposed to do that if he had never seen in colour before? Sure, he had had some colours explained to him and he knew the colour of some things because he had been told they were that colour, but that was it. He was _so fucked_. Sasha’s hair and clothes were closer to the shades of black he was used to seeing. Bertie was just… _loud_ but in colour. And Wilde was somehow pulling something off the colours of which didn’t even look like they went together to Zolf. His hair was dark, like a different shade of grey with some tint. His eyes were light, though.

 _Get yourself together!_ The cleric screamed at himself in his mind. He really did not want to talk about this or any of his weird behaviour right now with anyone, ever.

“Sure” Hamid replied with a bit of a strained smile towards Wilde, before gently leading Zolf to another room next to the one they were in.

“Hamid, you realize that, what we’re actually doing is kind of a bit… secret and international governmental level, so probably just shouldn’t be talking about…” The dwarf went straight into the topic he wanted to discuss, although he did notice Hamid looking at him a bit more intently than usual. When his reply came, reassuring Zolf he wouldn’t tell Wilde about that, he was very glad the halfling hadn’t pressed about anything else being wrong.

_One thing at a time. First figuring out what the hell this guy wants, and then figure out how you feel about him being your soulmate._

Once they re-entered the room, nothing much seemed to have changed. Bertie and Wilde were still flirting heavily, shamelessly bordering uncomfortable for anyone that wasn’t the two of them. Although, Sasha seemed to be the most uncomfortable with it out of all of them. Zolf couldn’t blame her. Thankfully, Hamid was good enough with social situations to know what to do, Zolf thought to himself as he watched the halfling hand her a drink.

“See, isn’t this nice! Everyone’s getting together, everyone’s having a good time...” Wilde said, moving one of his hands to signal the entire room. That was a very generous statement coming from him, honestly. Zolf rolled his eyes, not really even bothering to hide it.

“You all are okay with the fact that this guy’s been stalking us?” Sasha was certainly making a fair point.

“I don’t think he’s a threat. Let’s, we’ll talk to him, we’ll find out more, let’s just relax.” Hamid tried to relax the situation, even though it had been his apartment the one that had been broken into.

“Whoa now! Threat, really?” Wilde said, almost sounding surprised at being called a threat. He still seemed rather entertained and amused by the whole situation. That was probably the worst part of it all, how he didn’t seem to be taking anything seriously.

“Just ‘cause someone’s charming doesn’t mean that they’re not a threat” Sasha said deadpan, holding Wilde’s gaze as she said that.

For a second Zolf feared she would stab the man if he didn’t intervene.

“I mean, I was really hoping to have a debrief and actually do some work”

“Oh, don’t mind me, honestly, I just thought, you know, it’d be useful for you to have a single point of contact, you know?” Wilde started, shifting his attention from Bertie to Zolf as he spoke. The man was confident in his movements and everything that came out of his mouth. Every second that passed made this more surreal for Zolf. “So many reporters hounding you. If people were to know not to come to you because you’re already taken, as it were, think of all of the hassle dealt with. And I mean…look at me. Of course, I can spin this any way you want.” He finished.

“I dunno if breaking into our friend’s apartment was supposed to be some kind of grand master play of showing how competent you are, but all it makes me is not trust you and not like you, so that was a misstep.” The dwarf pointed out, refusing to give into whatever Wilde was attempting right there. Of course, Wilde was a handsome man. He was _really_ handsome, but that didn’t lead to him being trustworthy.

Zolf had just had his entire life turned around and was trying to hold some semblance of composure in the whole scene that was spreading in front of him. And as the flirting continued, the dwarf just hoped he had managed to get across to Bertie and Wilde the point of not giving away too much information about their work if the threat of being drowned in a bucket was anything to go by.

“How would you know it’s from me?” Wilde asked. A small smirk was tugging at the end of his smile, which seemed to be perfectly rehearsed to get anything it wanted out of anyone. Zolf didn’t doubt he could do that.

“Just be very careful.” Zolf said, making a point to emphasize each word.

He hoped that by being hostile Wilde luckily hadn’t realised he was the reason he could now see in colour. A small part of Zolf hoped Wilde thought it was Bertie, but the man didn’t seem stupid enough to think that. He pitied anyone out there that had Sir Bertrand MacGuffingham as a soulmate.

“All I’m saying is you draw a lot of attention. I can’t promise you’ll never get attention” The human man said, allowing his gaze to float over all four members of the mercenary group before falling back on Zolf.

The dwarf had to admit that Wilde was certainly not charming him by trying to be smart with Sasha and everyone. It was more annoying him than anything else.

“I am very keen to cut to the quick and just drown you in a bucket now!” Zolf wasn’t sure how Poseidon would see that or if he would be happy about it, but the cleric would certainly enjoy it. _Fuck_ soulmates. “So stop it, with your whole aloof cleverer-than-me kind of thing you’ve got going on here. If you reveal anything that I do not want to be revealed about this team and their…deeds, I will drown you, in a bucket!”

Zolf had to focus. He couldn’t be thinking about this man being his soulmate. Annoying soulmate. This mercenary group was more important, the mission they were investigating was more important than that. So far, with all they knew it was something that extended on a worldwide level, they couldn’t risk it. The dwarf wasn’t going to just trust this man because he had made him see in colour. That did not change anything and if it did, he’d deal with it later. First the mission, then feelings.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Smith, I promise to reveal precisely the right amount” Bertie said with a look of superiority, as if he knew full well what he was doing. Zolf didn’t trust him and if he did say too much, the dwarf would make sure it had consequences.

“Good” The cleric grumbled, suddenly noticing that Wilde was standing way too close to him now. The words died on his mouth when Wilde suddenly leaned in and booped his nose.

“I’ll try not to enjoy it” The man was saying as the tip of his finger pressed against Zolf’s nose briefly. A wide smile spread across his face.

Zolf didn’t think twice about what he did next.

He pulled back slightly and moved his head forward, headbutting Wilde. His forehead clashing straight with Wilde’s nose. _He had just headbutted his soulmate_. The slight pain on his forehead was suddenly taken away by a stronger pain when he felt Bertie’s fist collide with his face.

 _He was so fucked_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealings with the aftermath of that first meeting. Zolf thinks too much, Hamid asks question, Sasha notices things (probably) and Bertie doesn't.

Once Zolf managed to focus his eyes after the punch he received from Bertie, he saw Wilde gently dabbing his nose with a handkerchief. The dwarf could see the small stains of sharp red blood tainting the fabric. For a second, he allowed himself to feel bad about it, knowing that probably later when he had time to think about it, he’d feel bad properly. Although, the man had broken into one of his employee’s apartment and had been stalking them, so it wasn’t completely without reason.

“Well, that was unpleasant. I’m so sorry to have let things escalate like that. I’ll see you later, Bertie. Pleasure meeting all of you.” Wilde said keeping his voice light, although sounding a bit more severe and serious than earlier. Zolf was glad he had apparently caught the other male completely by surprise, he didn’t care if it was petty or dramatic.

“Pleasure.” Zolf replied, not looking away from Wilde. One of his hands gently brushing the spot of his face that Bertie had hit quite strongly.

Wilde’s tone had changed, but not as much as Zolf had hoped given what had just happened. “And uh, I hope to see you around again soon! Yeah?” The man asked to the room, not really giving time to answer before continuing to speak. “Would you like me to lock it on the way out?”

“No, that’s fine.” Hamid said shortly. Wilde gave a nod before finally heading off, after agreeing to next time get an appointment from Bertie. With everything Zolf had even briefly forgotten that Bertie had agreed to meet Wilde later.

_I don’t even want to think about what’s going to happen_.

As soon as the other man had left the room, Zolf felt his shoulders relax and his whole posture become calmer. So, this was the after he was thinking about earlier when it came to dealing with his feelings. He wasn’t really in the mood for that.

“You can’t just punch your boss because someone flirts with you” Zolf heard Sasha say to Bertie and then the dwarf proceeded to say a string of words that he hadn’t fully processed before they were out.

“I’ll let it slide because he did have a really nice bum”

_Well, that was out loud. There goes another thing to think about later_.

* * *

Once everyone seemed to be moving on from that interaction, Zolf took this as his cue to be able to hide in one of the spare rooms in Hamid’s apartment. The world looked like a whole new place. The dwarf had caught himself simply staring at the others and taking in how different they looked now. It seemed impossible how much of a difference colour seemed to make on the world.

As soon as the door fell closed behind him, he found himself making his way towards the bed resting on a corner of the room. It was a spacious room and much more decorated than any guest room had the right to be, if you asked Zolf.

_Hamid has money, though._

Besides, all that business with his world suddenly _literally_ changing, there were also other things bothering Zolf’s mind. After Wilde left there had been an awkward conversation between them all. Back beneath Kew Gardens they had argued instead of working together as a team, Hamid had been naïve, too. Zolf knew Hamid did things with the best of intentions – or so he hoped – but he could really be so naïve. They had been bribed to keep quiet, that wasn’t payment and if Hamid so badly wanted to be a hero, that certainly wasn’t the way.

Yes, Zolf admitted that maybe they would have left Dr. Mendeleev down there if they had followed his advice, but he had wanted to go to professionals who could deal with it better than them. He didn’t want to risk the lives of anyone of them. He was _responsible_ for all the people in this apartment now. The dwarf had hired them and that meant he had to make sure they didn’t die. He didn’t _want_ them to die and if Hamid continued like that, he was going to get himself killed. Zolf was surprised by how quickly, at least, two of the people working with him had become very important to him.

A sigh escaped his lips as he allowed his eyes to fall closed. He supposed doing some meditation wouldn’t be bad. It would either help calm down his mind a little bit, because he highly doubted at the moment it was possible to make it any worse. If he allowed himself to think about Wilde that was his business and his business only. Unfortunately, he was interrupted by a gentle, yet insistent knock on the door. So, it wasn’t Sasha, then.

“Come in…?” Zolf called out. A hint of hesitation tainting his voice as he sat up, getting off the bed. Much like the dwarf had been expecting, he, then, saw the halfling come inside of the room.

“Zolf, I just wanted to apologise about earlier.” Hamid began. A portion of Zolf’s mind relaxed when it caught up with the reason as to why Hamid was here. The halfling didn’t even wait for Zolf to get the chance to interrupt his monologue as he continued.

“I felt like our conversation didn’t end properly. I only wished to let you know that I do understand where you are coming from. I can recognise that you have experience in this kind of situations, which I do not, but I will also not just do nothing when I can do something about it.” He finally finished, letting out a big relieved sigh at the end.

“Hamid…” Zolf said with – hopefully – the most reassuring voice he could muster, despite knowing his face seemed to be permanently set in a scowl. “If you want to be a hero, you can’t just accept bribes because you tell yourself they aren’t. And if that is really want you want to do, help people, then you better watch out and not get yourself killed so you can do that.”

The dwarf didn’t really want to continue this conversation. He felt like he had made his point earlier. He wasn’t good with feelings, let alone good at talking about them.

“I also wanted to talk-“

“If it’s about Wilde, I don’t wanna hear it.”

“Is there something wrong with him, Zolf?” The halfling asked. He had a worried look drawn on his face.

“No, there’s nothing wrong. Why would there be something wrong.” Zolf said. _It’s not like he’s my fucking soulmate._

“I think we deserve to know as well if there is something going on, Zolf! You said it yourself that we are a team and we need to work together. We can’t keep things from each other, especially if they are relevant to someone who will affect our job.” Hamid debated which earned a soft groan from Zolf.

“It’s not relevant to our work and it won’t affect it. Besides, we do have more important things to care about than my relationship with Wilde, Hamid. I just met the man!” Zolf explained. “First we deal with our mission and then if you want we can talk about it all you want. But first, the mission.”

“Are you jealous, Zolf?”

_WHAT._

“Why would I be jealous?! I said I just met the man and if that wasn’t enough I headbutted him!”

“Okay, Zolf.” Hamid finally said with a small raised eyebrow.

“First the mission, please, Hamid?” The dwarf gave into saying at the end.

“Okay.”

He had enough with having to deal with this, he didn’t feel like talking about it as well. After a curt nod, Hamid exited the room, leaving the dwarf alone with his own thoughts again.

Zolf had known about soulmates since he was a kid. Which kid didn’t know? It was a mystery that no one had managed to figure out. Because that seemed to be the funny thing about it, it didn’t only seem to affect humans. It also affected other races. He hadn’t given it much thought. Hell, he had even been sure black and white was how he was going to see the world forever. And it had to happen just now. The timing was impeccable.

_Thanks, Poseidon_.

He didn’t even know if he could blame his God for that. It’s not like they were on the best of terms, anyway. Poseidon wasn’t known for being a very talkative God and Zolf certainly knew that.

Part of him wished he could care less if the others had noticed something up with him. Especially, Hamid. Although, a hunch told him Sasha had also realised that. After all, they seemed to have been the least busy with Wilde. Bertie had been flirting and Zolf had been openingly threatening toward the man. Sasha had put a knife to his throat but as soon as Wilde admitted to not knowing anything about Gusset, her interest in him had diminished. Especially, since nothing had seemed to deter Bertie and Wilde from throwing innuendoes to one another. Constantly.

Zolf didn’t even want to think to hard about whatever Bertie and Wilde might be up to now. Even if he hated admitting that, even to himself.

_Did it really have to happen now?_

There was a lot at stake. Even if the information they had managed to gather so far was vaguer than anything else. But something big was happening, even Zolf could see that bit was true. He just hoped that finding out that Oscar Wilde was his soulmate didn’t have any impact on the mission.

_Keep telling yourself that_.

Right now, though. All the cleric wanted was to get some rest. They had things to do tomorrow. Things, also known as, leaving London and going to Dover. The first stop had been decided, it was Paris. He hoped that city would give them some answers that would clear some of the headache that this seemed to be. He certainly felt as if he deserved a rest, already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!!! i expected this chapter to be longer but some things came up so i couldn't make it as long as i hoped bu ti od hope it's still okay. the entire fic is already planned out and i am really excited to share it. i hope you guys like it and thank you!
> 
> you can find me in tumblr at benmeredithjail :)

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! I have most of this fanfic planned out although i'm still not too sure how long it'll be! I'll be updating it weekly for now and i'd love to hear any thoughts you have on it.
> 
> you can also find me on tumblr in benmeredithjail :)
> 
> title from the song: as it was by hozier


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